


Gifted

by Symphoenae



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Callum is an artistic genius I love him, F/M, Fluff, Rayla cant comprehend Callum's sweetness, Zym just finds everything interesting tm, they're absolute dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21881179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Symphoenae/pseuds/Symphoenae
Summary: They'd stopped at a human village a little while ago before setting up camp for the night. Callum, against Rayla's advice, managed to barter with one of the merchants for something that she thought was a giant waste of time. It was also turning out to be a large annoyance, as the stuff traveled back and forth between Callum's hands with a slap-slap sound as he tossed it.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 127





	Gifted

**Author's Note:**

> I have a loophole. I have a LOOPHOLE. As I am a soon-to-be art student, I can find a niche in writing fiction for TDP where it expands on Callum and his artistic abilities while Rayla is curious and learns about stuffs. College is fun.... well, I'm hoping it'll be more fun when I'm arting instead of last semester trying to shove myself into geosciences when Im the absolute worst at math and science
> 
> Can you tell I've been doing art so much in my life? Singing too but Callum isn't a musical person so I can't shove that aspect of my personality on him,,,,,,,,,and I've just had a brilliant idea oh no
> 
> anyways have this tm

They'd stopped at a human village a little while ago before setting up camp for the night. Callum, against Rayla's advice, managed to barter with one of the merchants for something that she thought was a giant waste of time. It was also turning out to be a large annoyance, as the stuff traveled back and forth between Callum's hands with a _slap-slap_ sound as he tossed it. It was one of those rare nights where he'd insisted in taking the night watch. He was adamant on the reason being she'd been doing it for at least three days in a row and that she needed some rest as well, but Rayla had a sneaking suspicion that he was really just too excited over the stuff he'd managed to get.

This was where she was now- laying down on the floor of the cave, in an attempt to sleep, but her violet eyes were too trained on the boy a few feet away from her. She could see him from a side profile- he had that same look on his face he got when he was hyper-focused on drawing in his sketchbook. As much as she was a little annoyed over the consistent noise he was making keeping her from falling asleep, she was curious about what he was doing. The dumb human hadn't even told her what the stuff was, but it was gray, and it seemed to be muddying up his gloves and fingers as he continued to toss it palm to palm. Zym sat a few feet away from him, his body in a stance like he was ready to pounce, his big, bright eyes watching the movement intently. He eventually did let out a yip and bounded over closer to Callum, almost shoving his snout straight into the stuff when it was tossed back into the hand closer to him. Callum let out a quiet chuckle at the baby dragon's actions, ceasing his throwing to pat him atop his fluffy little head.

"You like the clay then, Zym?" Callum questioned softly, assuming that his elf companion was asleep and not trying to disturb her.

Rayla blinked. Clay? He'd made them stick around in that village just for some clay? She knew she couldn't deny his artistic talent and fascination, but she'd never seen him do anything other than draw in his sketchbook. When did he decide that he needed this stuff?

"Rayla said I didn't need it, and she was right in a way. But I just... I wanted to try it out I guess. This whole journey is so far out there, y'know?" Callum continued to talk to Zym, who's eyes were now intently focused on him alone, tongue lolling out of his mouth happily. "It's not like I've really ever done clayworking in my life either, but it's art. I've done so many drawings during this journey, of Katolis, of Xadia, and it just feels like it's part of all of this now. Not that I hate it or anything! I just... wanted something that could, I don't know, distract me a bit. Well, considering what I'm making kind of defeats the purpose, I guess, but... none of this makes any sense to you, does it Zym?"

Zym yapped in response, bringing a slight smile to Rayla's face. It was a nice sight to see; a human and a dragon getting along, talking like equals. But now she was curious about what exactly Callum was making with his clay. She felt a tad guilty knowing Callum's wish for her to get some sleep would go to waste, but it was totally his own fault for making a racket.

"It's different from drawing... drawing is manipulating the pencil or charcoal based on memory or what you see in front of you. But with this, there's no middle man. There's no pencil or charcoal, that translates the sight to the paper, it's just my hands, shaping what I see. I've only got a little here for now, since I don't quite know what I'm doing, but..." He trailed off, peering at Zym with a thoughtful look. "Hey, little guy, can you keep a secret?"

A secret? Oh, that wasn't fair at all! Just as Rayla felt disappointment seeping into her thoughts over the prospect of not knowing, she watched as Callum leaned forward over to Zym and whispered something to him. Unfortunately for him, Rayla had better hearing than he had accounted for.

"It's nothing special really, but I'm making this for Rayla. She's done so much for us this whole time, and sometimes I don't think she knows how appreciated it all is. She doesn't like to show off her feelings a lot, and along with that, I don't think she's very in tune with feeling others' emotions. I worry that she doesn't really hear the gratitude in my voice when I try telling her with words." Callum mumbled, sitting back in his original position. "Since I can't do Sky magic anymore, I'm basically a walking target. I can't exactly protect you or her at all. This is the only gesture I can think of to make up for all of it."

_Oh, you sappy prince..._ Rayla felt the biggest grin gracing her features at his words. Of course she knew how much he appreciated her abilities and actions, he didn't have to do anything else, and yet here he was, still thinking of her first. Sometimes Callum really put into question how she could think all humans were monsters, he was just so caring and sweet. Why he decided to dedicate a lot of his kindness to her was beyond her comprehension, but a part of her in the back of her head was so glad he did. She closed her eyes as she continued to think only positive things about her dumb human, her cheeks flooding slightly with heat as she began to drift off despite herself.

It was to Callum's surprise in the morning when Rayla nearly crushed him in a bear hug when he presented his little gift to her; a small recreation of a crescent moon, color-stained to match the normal colors of the real moon. She held him for awhile, just to give herself time to get rid of the blush that had once again bloomed on her face, before pulling away and giving him a wide, warm smile, her gaze soft as she looked at him. Her dumb human.

"Thank you, Callum."

**Author's Note:**

> Neither Rayla or Callum are musical people in the way that I am but I COULD write a series of one-shots where Rayla becomes a musical person in the sense I'm thinking about.... ooh........ that's so tempting..........
> 
> Someone stop me before I take these lovable dorks hostage and write them into my own character arcs that have nearly nothing to do with the actual plot aaaaaaaaaaaa
> 
> I'm so used to being one of few writing for a certain ship and this tag is so active it's got me shook and nervous I'm doing my best


End file.
